Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com
Church Creek like most anchorages along this part of the ICW is essentially a navigable channel that runs through a large marsh. There is little wind protection from any direction and there is almost always a significant current that will reverse at least once while you’re there and maybe more than that depending on how long you stay. A challenging anchoring scenario in any case. We anchored there on Sunday night following our departure from Charleston. Overnight we had winds in the 30 knot range but once again our trusty Manson Supreme anchor held us fast.
On Monday morning we got an early start and headed south bound for Beaufort. Along the way we ran into some really shallow water. At one land cut we saw depths as low as 4.5 feet and we actually had to drag Sweet Escape’s winged keel through half a foot of mud to get through the channel. Along the way we passed by another sailboat that had wandered out of the channel and run aground. We called this boat on the VHF as we passed to insure that the crew was okay. They were fine, just waiting for the tide to come back up and re-float the boat. The penalty for not paying attention to your chart. See the photo at right.
We made it though and pulled into Beaufort Monday afternoon. We anchored just off the downtown area. It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid 70’s - but that would soon change.
Warning - Read further at your own risk because there WILL be whining.
The weather report called for another cold front to pass through about midday on Tuesday and in addition to the cold temperatures it would also bring clouds and rain. Add to that the fact that there would be a new moon that would cause extreme tides and the next several days were sure to be a challenge. More on the tides later.
We decided to stay in Beaufort on Tuesday and woke up to the same gorgeous weather. We put the dinghy in the water and went into the town dinghy dock. From there we went to Blackstone’s Cafe for breakfast and and then walked the ten or so blocks along streets lined by oak trees covered with spanish moss to the Piggly Wiggly where we did some minor reprovisioning. At one point along the way Brian pulled some moss off a tree and gave it to Judy. A lady who was planting flowers in her front yard saw this and laughed. “We’re not from around here”, we explained. “Thats what I figured, we don’t usually carry moss around”, she said.
At the Piggly Wiggly checkout as we were putting our groceries into backpacks and our little pull cart that we use for such trips, the store manager approached us and asked if we were cruisers. We answered that we were and he then offered to drive us back to the dinghy dock and we gratefully accepted. So it was that Donald, the store manager drove us back to the dock and even took the long way, giving us a mini tour of this charming southern town filled with so many friendly people.
At about 3:00 PM the cold front came through and the temperatures dropped 30 degrees, the clouds rolled in, the winds kicked up and it started to rain. We just finished getting the dinghy back up on the davits when this happened.
The next morning we had planned to travel about 60 miles which would put us well south of Savannah Georgia. One look at the weather and the tides and we knew we would not be going very far. It was raining and it was cold and as uncomfortable as that is that was not the biggest problem. That day and every day since we have had extreme tide events where the high tides run up to three feet higher than normal. This has been causing local flooding here and it poses a problem for us with respect to our clearance under fixed bridges. This means that we have to time our fixed bridges with the tides and this has been severely impeding our southern progress the past few days.
We left the anchorage at Beaufort on Wednesday afternoon just before low tide so that we could clear the Beaufort fixed bridge just to the south. Had we attempted any earlier in the day and we would not have been able to pass under the bridge. Because daylight savings time is no longer with us we lose an hour of travel time as well so, we were able to go a total of nine miles on Wednesday instead of the 60 we had originally planned. We anchored in Colwin Creek just east of Paris Island, the Marine Corps recruit training facility and endured yet another cold, windy, stormy and mostly sleepless night on the hook.
On Thursday we woke to another raw, wet and cloudy day. We could not leave until noon in order to clear two fixed bridges. On Thursday we were able to travel 25 miles. We anchored overnight in the Cooper River just north of Savannah and spent a comparatively peaceful, albeit cold night.
This morning, Friday - we woke up and actually saw the sun, for five minutes before the clouds once again moved in. Today we had three fixed bridges to clear and timed our departure so that we would arrive at the first one at mid tide. That meant that we could not leave the anchorage until 11 AM, a little better than the past couple days. Today’s run was also a little more tolerable than the past couple too because the strong north wind was at our backs most of the day. It is counterintuitive to think that the north wind would be in your face while you are traveling south but the fact is that the ICW is like a snake and you are often traveling in directions other than south. We were able to put on 30 miles today and are anchored at Possum Point just north of the Vernon River about 20 miles south of Savannah.
A word about the weather. We have been generally disappointed in the weather we have had on our cruise so far. It has been cold much more than it has been warm. Unseasonably so ever since we left the Erie Canal in October. Today, we were speaking to a man at a marina where we stopped briefly for fuel. He told us that this weather - highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 40’s is typical for late December and January. Indeed we have had some nice days but they have been few and far between. We feel that if we can get further south the weather should improve but in practice it just hasn’t been the case. We don’t expect any sympathy from readers, but it is discouraging to get up day after day, dress up like we’re going skiing and sit in a frigid, closed up boat every night.
The desire to get south as quickly as possible has us considering skipping the Cruisers Thanksgiving celebration in St. Mary’s Georgia. St. Mary’s is located on the St. Mary’s River just north of the Georgia - Florida state line and about five miles off the ICW. Each year hundreds of cruisers assemble there at the Riverview Hotel for a large thanksgiving day potluck where the hotel provides the turkey and ham and the cruisers bring everything else. Right now our desire for warmer weather outweighs our need to attend thanksgiving dinner. We’ll see how it goes.
See our albums page for addition photos from this time period.
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